Josephine Sews

First I want to wish you a blessed and safe new year.  I prayed the Lord's blessings upon your life. My sewing goal for this past year 2015 was to start this blog to encourage myself to sew once a week.  Not only did I start 6 months late but I never even came close to sewing once a week - it was more like once a quarter. My new goal this year is to be a bit more realistic.  I am going for sewing at least one clothing item a month, enter at least one sewing contest, and attend at least one sewing class (either live or virtual).  I always do craft related sewing so there is no point in setting a goal for crafts. This month I truly stretched myself - I entered  Pattern Review 's "New To Me Pattern Co. Contest".  As I suspected I would do I stressed myself out really bad and almost did not complete the pattern. How I Did It The pattern I used was  Pearl & Opal  from The Sewing Workshop.  I chose to sew the Opal jacket. I immed...

I had the 24th and 25th off and had plans to sew - NOT.  All I did was relax and do a little cooking.  I didn't even visit with family and friends on Christmas day - I was enjoying my time relaxing and celebrating my Savior's birth. The real plan was to finish (start and finish) the jacket that has to be done by the 31st for a contest I entered - never touched it.  I did get a little sewing done.  At the 99th hour I decided to make one Christmas gift for a girlfriend.  I normally don't buy Christmas presents except for myself. I knew I want to make something but I dare not make another purse.  She has gotten a number of purses that I made for her and she has always appreciated them but I wanted to give her something different and something that was quick and fun to make.  I went to my project folder and found mug rugs.  I also decided to embroider a dish towel. How I Did It I found the  Mug Rug  project at one of my favorite sewi...

I took a new job that cut my commute time more than half and offered more challenging work which translates to more sewing time and a happier me - WRONG.  Much much more stress, extremely frustrating work, mentally drained, and weekly sewing a distant memory. Lord why wasn't I born into wealth so I don't have to work?  Ok grip session over. I cut and started sewing another Lekala 4106 dress (see September 27, 2015 post).  I still have a little more work to do but no motivation.  Still no sewing motivation but I promised a few baby blankets and have ran out of time and have to get them done. I was able to complete one blanket this past weekend which is good because the baby shower is this coming weekend. How I Did It The quilt pattern was modeled after the "Sweet Baby Quilt" from the book  Sew Special Fat Quarter Gifts .  I have made several projects from this book.  I love the book because the instructions are easy to follow and the projects ...

Whew - I finished the dress. Amazing what a difference a day and prayer makes (see September 12 post).  I started back on this dress again September 13, 2015 and because of other commitments I did not get to completed it until yesterday.  I re-read the instructions on the collar and yoke piece and realized I had missed a sentence and that made the difference. I still struggled with collar only because I just didn't think it would not fit properly but after basting it onto the dress it did indeed fit.  The dress was quite easy but I struggled with this one for some reason.  I did put the collar on the wrong side but I will live with this design feature. What's interesting is the fit.  It fits me but there is not a lot of design ease and I would prefer a bit more.  I made a skirt from a Lekala pattern and it fit perfectly with just the right amount of ease. I loved this pattern but debated on buying it because I did not think I had the right shape fo...

I have had so much going on lately that I have not been able to do my weekly sewing.  Instead of being my stress relief my sewing has become a huge source of frustration because I can't seem to complete my garments.  I must have "sewers block" right now. A month or so ago I started altering a shorts pattern to make for a trip that has come and gone.  There were 6 huge alterations that I needed to make and I made about 3 of them and quickly realized I would not finish the alterations.  The main problem was it was depressing to realize how many inches I needed to add so they would fit properly.  As frustrating as it is it has not compelled me to lose weight - eventually I will get there too. So I decided  Lekala  to the rescue.  I selected dress pattern 4106 which has a really cute collar design.  I entered my measurements, got the pattern that was made with my measurements, took it to Fedex Kinko's and had it printed for a whopping $18 ( I...

I actually started this project on the 8th (Saturday) and finished on the 9th.  I woke up on Saturday and I didn't seem to have any energy.  As the day went on my energy level stayed the same - low.  I decided I needed a "pick me up" and knew sewing something would make me feel better. I still have the shorts I need to make but have not finished the pattern alterations.  I did not need frustration - I wanted to sew something quick and easy.  I went to my favorite project site and found a  beginner friendly back to school tote .  I know a teacher and decided to surprise her with a quick tote. How I Did It The boundary I set was for myself was I could not buy any thing to make this project - everything had to come from my current stock of supplies.  This is crazy I know but I made this boundary and got mad because I couldn't buy anything new for this project. The fabric I chose to use was a decorator weight denim that has a tri-color strip t...

The last few weeks have been trying.  My body decided that it wanted to show me who was really in charge.  Out of no where I started having pain but not your normal aches and pain.  This pain was disabling and the slightest movement in any direction caused excruciating pain. I don't know what triggered it and that is most frustrating.  I still have pain but I am able do most things now .  Still praying and asking the Lord for complete healing. I managed to get some sewing done but not for me.  I had one client that wanted to have a wedding gift personalize.  I monogrammed 2 face, 2 hand, and 2 bath towels.  I also monogrammed 2 pillow cases and a sheet. How I Did It It was straight forward.  The biggest problem I had was supporting the weight of the items that were being monogrammed.  The monogram technique I used is called "embossing".  This was the first time I tried it and it turned out really nice.  I used a tear away...